[At-Large] ICANN financials

[Karl Auerbach]

On 04/13/2011 09:20 PM, John R. Levine wrote:
>> The amount of that registry fee is grounded nothing more than the
>> assertion - an assertion made without supporting evidence - that
>> Verisign needs that 7% registration fee every year in order to cover
>> costs.  (Similar gifts are made to the other registries.)
>
> I believe that if you review the history, you'll find that's the amount
> that was adequate to make some lawsuits go away.

Yes.  As I remember it, the famous ICANN 7% Solution (which also 
included the perpetual vesting of .com/.net into Verisign and the 
separation of .org) was a private deal worked out by one attorney from 
the law firm that created ICANN and which ICANN rather automatically 
accepted.

It is always nice to buy one's way out of a lawsuit using someone else's 
money.

	--karl--